International relief agencies expressed alarm Monday at the rising number of civilians forced to flee fighting between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers, and said populated areas were endangered by continued shelling.
As the number of civilians displaced due to the Sri Lanka military’s renewed efforts to move into LTTE territory in the Batticaloa district increased to over 150,000, international aid agencies urged both sides to ensure their protection and comply with international human rights law.
The attack began last Thursday when the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched heavy artillery barrage towards LTTE controlled territories in Batticaloa district, as the Special Task Force (STF) began a two pronged ground offensive from Chenkalady and Pulukunawa.
The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Country Team, which is chaired by the UN Resident Coordinator, expressed concern at the number of internally displaced, warning that this was “creating further pressure on an already difficult situation that will require more resources and capacity from all actors.”
“As fighting continues, we are also worried for the safety and protection of all civilians, as reports indicate that shelling is occurring from and to, highly populated areas,” the IASC said in a press release.
The ICRC spokesman in Sri Lanka, Davide Vignati, told Voice of America shortages of food and water are emerging at overcrowded refugee camps since the new refugees arrived. But, he says, the situation has not yet reached the crisis stage.
"This new number of displaced civilians bring(s) the total number up to almost 120,000 displaced people presently sheltering in Batticaloa district," Vignati said Tuesday.
"The main problem for the time being is food. New tents and shelter camps should be set up in the coming days to accommodate this new population."
Aid workers in Batticaloa said Saturday that schools and other public buildings were being opened to help accommodate the new influx of refugees.
“Most of them are under trees,” said Basil Sylvester, district officer for the main aid agency umbrella group, the Consortium for Humanitarian Agencies in Batticaloa.
“When they get to Batticaloa, they don't know what to do. Some are in schools and churches. Many are staying with relations and friends.”
But others said that aid supplies were already low, particularly water.
“If in the next few days several other thousands are coming, then of course we have a problem,” Marcal Luethi, a protection officer with the International Committee of the Red Cross in Batticaloa, told Reuters.
"We are extremely alarmed at the new level of displaced," Reuters quoted U.N. mission spokeswoman Orla Clinton as saying. "It's just going to add more pressure to an already very difficult situation."
On Sunday, a Tamil lawmaker appealed for international intervention in the conflict.
“The artillery shells fired by the military are falling inside civilian settlements and this is forcing the people to flee,” said Senadhiraja Jeyanandamoorthy, a member of Parliament from Batticaloa district representing the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
“The government is not providing them with facilities, therefore, the international community should come forward to stop this,” he said.
Military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe denied that civilian areas were being targeted.
“The Tigers use the civilians as human shields,” he said. “They (refugees) want to get out of there and come to safer places.”
No independent account of the death toll was available, but civilians in the area said they could hear a heavy exchange of artillery and mortar fire.
On Thursday all the gateways to the LTTE controlled areas in Batticaloa district – Paddiruppu, Vavunathivu, Chenkalady Black and Kiran bridges and Kurumanvely, Ampilanthurai, Manmunai ferries – were closed by the SLA.
Only the displaced were allowed into the government controlled areas, being carefully screened on the way in. The SLA had also cut all mobile and wireless telephone connections.
The SLA was trying to relocate those displaced in an earlier exodus – when government troops attacked the LTTE in Vaharai – back to their homes further north, Reuters reported, saying that would free up camps to accommodate new refugees.
"They are doing their best to push the Vaharai people out immediately," Reuters quoted Brigadier Samarasinghe as saying. "They are setting up new camps in Batticaloa."
Calling on both sides to immediately ensure the protection of civilians in these areas, the IASC Team also urged them to comply with their international human rights and humanitarian law obligations, as expressed in the Security Council resolutions on the protection of civilians and the guiding principles on internal displacement.
